Andrea Palladio, the Villa
Rotunda,
And the rise of Palladianism
William Ross
November 4, 2019
Andrea Palladio
rose from humble origins to become one of the greatest Architects of all time.
Palladio was born at a time when Renaissance Humanism was rediscovering the
accomplishments of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and using this new knowledge
to challenge the status quo of religious, medieval European thinking. Many of
Palladio’s later accomplishments were made possible by the work of previous
generations in the Renaissance Humanist movement who had rediscovered and
reinterpreted Vitruvius and various elements of ancient art, perspective, and
engineering. Palladio was born into this auspicious era of creativity and
exploration, but it was only because of a chance encounter with a humanist
scholar named Trissino that Palladio was able to participate in these
developments. Given the opportunity to learn by Trissino, Palladio took his
education seriously. He read Vitruvius’ works, he studied ancient Roman
buildings, and he used those observations and measurements to evolve his own
architectural designs in a quest for beauty and perfection. Throughout a
lifetime of study, Palladio merged practice and theory to create the perennial
design of the Villa Rotunda and to write his seminal masterpiece The Four
Books of Architecture. Both of these major lifetime accomplishments created
a legacy that inspired future designers like Indigo Jones and generations of
architects to the present day. Building on the work of previous generations and
the architectural achievements of Ancient Rome, Andrea Palladio fundamentally
revolutionized architecture for future generations world-wide by discovering
aesthetics for modern life.
During the 13th, 14th, and 15th
centuries, a philosophical revolution was taking place across the Italian city
states. Studia humanitatis, or “Renaissance Humanism,” was emerging as a
temporal challenge to the religious mind set of the middle ages (Wilde). These
humanist scholars scoured Europe in search of surviving ancient Roman and Greek
texts, knowledge, and understanding. However, they were persecuted by the all-powerful
Roman Catholic church throughout the 13th century because of the
threat they posed to the medieval social order: “Renaissance Humanism was using
the study of classical texts to alter contemporary thinking, breaking with the
medieval mindset and creating something new” (Wilde, A Guide to Renaissance
Humanism). Because of this challenge, Humanist ideas could only spread
slowly, gradually, and rarely reached or changed the beliefs of those in power.
However, a single man, the fourteenth century poet Francesco Petrarch (1303 -
1374), changed all that.
Petrarch
transformed Renaissance Humanism from a fringe academic movement into a
powerful force. By working “at bringing together the classics and the
Christians” (Wilde), he created his “Humanist Program” (Wilde) which brought in
new thinkers like the powerful chancellor of Florence, Coluccio Salutati
(Wilde). With newly found acceptance among European elites, Renaissance
Humanism spread rapidly across Italy and into the rest of Europe: “By the
mid-15th century, Humanism education was normal in upper-class Italy” (Wilde).
Soon any field that required literacy was dominated by Humanists (Wilde).
Because of this situation, the famous author, art theorist, and architect Leon
Battista Alberti (1404 - 1472) was given a humanist education.
Alberti was an
extensive writer whose work had a lasting effect on Renaissance thought. As the
child of a wealthy merchant family in Florence (Kelly-Gadol), Alberti received
a proper humanist education in Padua and later at the University of Bologna
(Kelly-Gadol). He mastered Latin and wrote about geometry, geography (with
Paolo Toscanelli), art, perspective, and moral philosophy (Kelly-Gadol).
However, his most significant accomplishment arose when he was employed by
Marchese Leonello at the Este court in Ferrara to restore Vitruvius’ seminal
work The Ten Books of Architecture. His translation and elaboration on
Vitruvius, De Re Aedificatoria: “won him his reputation as the
‘Florentine Vitruvius.’ It became a bible of Renaissance architecture, for it
incorporated and made advances upon the engineering knowledge of antiquity, and
it grounded the stylistic principals of classical art in a fully developed
aesthetic theory of proportionality and harmony” (Kelly-Gadol). De Re
Aedificatoria brought Vitruvius up to date during Renaissance Italy,
spreading ancient Roman architectural ideas far and wide.
De Re Aedificatoria heavily influenced
Andrea Palladio’s mentors and contemporaries. The mannerist architect Sebastian
Serlio (1475 - 1554) used De Re Aedificatoria as an aid in his study of
ancient Roman Architecture (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica) while
writing his own book Tutte l’Opere d’Architettura, et Prospetiva. Later,
Andrea Palladio would write about how much Serlio’s treatise had inspired him
(Placzek) and it had visible influences on his design for the Vicenza town hall
(Richardson). The mannerist architect
Giacomo da Vignola (1507 - 1573), another of Palladio’s contemporaries, also
heavily relied on De Re Aedificatoria to create the Churches of St.
Andrea and Il Gesu as well as to write his own book Regola Delli Cinque
Ordini d’Architettura in 1562 (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). The
Vitruvian climate of Architectural thought undoubtedly exerted an enormous
influence on Andrea Palladio, who considered Vitruvius to be “his master and
guide” (Richardson). It was out of this
Renaissance Humanist ethos that Palladio rose to accomplish some of his most
significant work.
Andrea’s life was
marked by struggles and chance occurrences that make his accomplishments seem
even more extraordinary. Andrea Palladio was born in the town of Padua in
Veneto (modern day Italy) to a poor and illiterate father named Pietro. During
the first 16 years of his life he was apprenticed to a sculptor before joining
a guild of brick layers and stonemason’s in Vicenza (Richardson). As he grew
older, he worked as an illiterate sculptor and day laborer for various
construction crews in the region through the guild. One project, however, would
change the direction of his life forever.
The humanist scholar Count Giorgio Trissino
(1478 - 1550) was renovating his villa, and Palladio happened to be a member of
the crew working on the project. Through a chance encounter, Trissino met
Palladio and, for one reason or another, took Palladio in like his own son. He
began giving Palladio a humanist education in literacy, mathematics, music,
philosophy, and the ancient classics (Richardson). It was through Trissino that
Palladio met the famous contemporary architect Sebastian Serlio (Richardson)
and read De Re Aedificatoria, thereby learning about Vitruvius. However,
the most significant events in Palladio’s education were his trips to Rome with
Trissino in 1541 and in 1547. It was through these trips that Palladio gained
first-hand experience of ancient Roman and contemporary Renaissance
architecture (Richardson) and began to develop his own Architectural ideas.
For the first
time, Palladio began creating his own Architectural designs. His very first
design was the Villa Lonedo which was followed by the Palazzo Civena
(Richardson). After returning from his second trip to Rome, Palladio won the
competition to reconstruct the Vicenza town hall in 1548 (Richardson), an
accomplishment that helped spread his fame across the region (Cram). For the
next seven years, Palladio worked tirelessly on a slew of new architectural
projects for an ever increasing number of clients who competed for his services
(Cram). However, Palladio’s education was not finished.
In 1554, Palladio
abruptly stopped working on new commissions despite the ever increasing demand
for his services. Instead, he went to Rome where he remained for the next two
years tirelessly studying, measuring, and analyzing ancient Roman buildings. For
Palladio, one of the most significant ancient buildings he studied was the
Pantheon:
The amount of space Palladio
dedicates to the Pantheon in his later treatise The Four Books of
Architecture belies its’ significance for him. It is the only building in
his work with an illustration that takes up two whole sheets of paper. It also
has one of the most lengthy and glowing descriptions in his fourth book. He
begins his description by stating: “Among all the temples that are to be seen
in Rome, I celebrate none more than the Pantheon, now called the Ritonda,
nor [are] the remains more entire; since it is to be seen almost in its
first state as a fabric…” (Palladio 99’ transl. Isaac Ware). The shape and
components of the Pantheon would appear in Palladio’s later architectural
accomplishments.
Following a theme
in architectural design, Palladio puts emphasis on a second and equally
significant building: Bramante’s Tempietto built for Pope Julius II (Bruschi).
Interestingly, this is the only contemporary sacred space included in
Palladio’s fourth book.
One possible reason for this inclusion
may be because of Bramante’s faithfulness to the classical design principals as
Palladio understood them: “Bramante became the interpreter, in architecture and
city planning, of the pontiff’s dream of re-creating the ancient empire of the
Caesars. Bramante planned gigantic building complexes that adhered as never
before to the idiom of antiquity.” (Bruschi). The imperial renovations of Rome
that had taken place around the time of Palladio’s birth must have enabled the
first ever contemporary use of true classical principals in contemporary
building.
When Andrea
Palladio returned to Viscenza, he set about creating his most unusual and most
influential villa: the Villa Rotunda. The Villa Almerico Capra Valmarana, built
it 1571 and commonly known as the Villa Rotunda, is possibly the most
significant building Palladio ever built.
The Villa Rotunda, according to the
UNESCO World Heritage Sites, is “a unique survival of a total humanist concept
based on a living interpretation of antiquity” (UNESCO World Heritage Center).
Among Palladio’s significant achievements in this design is a hierarchy of
spaces, proportion, paths, balance, areas for different functions, and sources
of natural lighting and ventilation (Functional Analysis). Overall, the villa
appears to be a culmination of Palladio’s humanist education, architectural
experience, and has obvious connections with the Pantheon and Bramante’s
Tempietto:
After the grandeur
of the Roman empire began to decline, through the continual inundations of the
Barbarians, architecture, as well as all the other arts and sciences, left its
first beauty and eloquence, and grew gradually worse, till there scarce
remained any memory of beautiful proportions, and of the ornamented manner of
building, and it was reduced to the lowest pitch that could be.
But, because (all
human things being in perpetual motion) it happens that they at onc time rise
to the summit of their perfection, and at another fall to the extremity of
imperfection; architecture in the times of our fathers and grandfathers,
breaking out of the darkness in which it had been for a long time buried, began
to show itself once more to the world. (Palladio 97, transl. Isaac Ware)
This building’s form appears to be an
embodiment of this revolutionary attitude. It is an innovation on all of
Palladio’s previous designs. As seen by the Villa Rotunda’s significance in
ensuing centuries, it may even be the defining moment that elevated Palladio’s
work above his contemporaries and helped create something totally new and a
lasting legacy: Palladianism.
Palladianism
became a revolutionary new way to design. It promoted clarity, order, symmetry,
and connection with the past (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica), all of which
was at odds with the earlier Mannerist and later baroque styles of
Architecture. Essentially, it was, and still is, Renaissance Humanist values
encoded in the architectural design of a building: “Palladianism is the
conviction, first of all, that a universal applicable vocabulary of
architectural forms is both desirable and possible; secondly, that such a
vocabulary had been developed by the ancient Romans, and thirdly, that a
careful and judicious use of these forms will result in beauty” (Placzek, v.).
In this way, beauty was intrinsically linked with good architecture for
Palladio.
As much as
Palladianism is a way to design, it is also a conscious decision about what is
important about buildings and architecture. It is the idea that buildings
should be a practical joy. This can be seen by Palladio’s innovative and
systematical approach to the plan of a house (Richardson) as well as the use of
“the ancient Greco-Roman temple front as a portico” on a private residence
(Richardson). In this way, Palladianism
exemplifies the idea that the content of the architecture is more important
than the form.
Tragedy struck at
the end of Andrea Palladio’s life, but his pupil Vincenzo Scamozzi ensured
Palladianism would continue. One of Palladio’s sons was convicted of murder and
was sentenced to death (Cram). His other son died in an accident (Cram). Unable
to cope with the grief from these tragedies, Palladio became a recluse and
isolated himself (Richardson). This became Palladio’s final struggle at the end
of his life. In a kind of sad irony, the man who would become one of the most
influential and famous architects of all time, died as an isolated spendthrift
in August of 1580 (Cram). However, Scamozzi ensured that many of Palladio’s
unfinished buildings were completed posthumously. Continuing construction
ensured that Palladianism would continue on in Viscenza.
Palladianism was
brought to England and popularized for the rest of the European world through
an unlikely source. Indigo Jones (1573 – 1652) was the son of cloth worker and
over his lifetime he became a jack of all trades and an opportunistic social climber
(Summerson). At different times during his varied life he learned painting;
designed costumes, stage sets, and props; and was a land surveyor. However, he
stepped into the lens of history when he visited Italy in 1613 with the second
Earl of Arundel, Thomas Howard (Summerson). During this visit, Jones acquired a
copy of The Four Books of Architecture and began educating himself about
Architecture. When Jones returned to England, an opportunity to show off
his new skill arose when a fire destroyed a banqueting hall in Whitehall in
1619 (Summerson). Jones seized the opportunity and designed the Banqueting
House using many of the principals of Palladianism developed by Andrea
Palladio.
The Banqueting House popularized
Palladianism in Britain. At this time, members of the Whig party in England
were looking for a new architectural style (Editors of Encyclopedia
Britannica). Under these influences, soon many architects were exploring and designing
Palladian buildings.
The Villa Rotunda seems to be one of Palladio’s most lasting legacies. The Villa was the inspiration for many buildings throughout the 18th century. One of the earliest reinventions of Palladio’s seminal work was the Cheswick House, built in 1729 and designed by the wealthy 3rd Earl of Burlington, Richard Boyle (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).
Another estate that draws inspiration
from the Villa Rotunda is Holkam Hall in Norfolk, England. William Kent was
Richard Boyle’s student (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica), and likely
learned about Palladianism from Boyle.
Across the Atlantic, Thomas Jefferson
drew inspiration from the Villa Rotunda when he began designing Monticello in
1772. The style’s crossing of the Atlantic to North America makes sense because
of the British colonial influences: “Naturally, the Georgian architecture of
the United States develops directly from Palladio through the later masters who
followed Inigo Jones” (Adams). It was after Jefferson visited Europe and
encountered true Palladianism that he developed the final design below:
Palladio continues
to wield a strong contemporary influence in the 21 Century. Today, some
Architects continue to design Palladian buildings using the revolutionary and
worthwhile ideas about beauty developed by Palladio. The merit of Palladio’s
remarkable legacy is highlighted by the fact that architects have continued to
draw inspiration from his work for over 500 years.
In the United States,
RAMSA Architects completed a new Palladian style admissions center for Elon
University in North Carolina. There are many recognizable Palladian elements in
the design, as well as a rotunda that is suggestive of Palladio’s Villa Rotunda
(Traditional Building Magazine).
In England,
Quinlan and Francis Terry Architects design breathtaking Palladian
architecture: “Even today, there are
Architects, notably the father and son team Quinlan and Francis Terry, who
continue to work in a tradition descended from Palladio” (Glancey, Guardian
Newspaper). These buildings draw inspiration from many of the earlier designs
done by Palladio:
Andrea Palladio’s
ideas and legacy have had a lasting impact on the world. Palladio made major contributions to the
field of Architecture. He was inspired by ancient Roman buildings like the
Parthenon and contemporary buildings like Bramante’s Tempietto, but he
developed these forms further. Palladio’s Villa Rotunda led to the Palladian
Style. It has been reinvented and a source of inspiration for many generations.
The Four Books of Architecture contain measurements, proportion, and
relationships between the parts of Ancient buildings still in use to this day.
His ideas and innovations, once geographically isolated, have spread world-wide
through the work of people like Indigo Jones. Palladio has made a lasting mark
on Architectural history and that legacy continues to the present. Today,
architectural firms like Quinlan and Francis Terry and RAMSA continue to build
Palladian buildings inspired by Palladio’s immense and transformational legacy.
Andrea Palladio was not born into greatness. He worked tirelessly all his life
to find the key to beauty. The man who started out as the poor, illiterate
stone cutter became the architect that changed the world.
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